The inflammatory disease connected to COVID-19 that doctors saw in New York City is now here in Houston.
Texas Children’s Hospital says they have several patients with or are suspected of having multi-system inflammatory syndrome. Dr. Laura Shekerdemian, chief of critical care, told our TV partner Channel 2
“There was no reason to think that Houston and Texas would skip this consequence of COVID-19 infection and sure enough, it arrived in about the same time frame as the original infection hit us compared to the East Coast,” said Shekerdemian.
Shekerdemian also says it takes weeks between exposure and symptoms.
“It seems to affect children about four to six weeks after exposure to COVID so it's quite a long time lag between any exposure or early illness and then the MIS-C complication,” Shekerdemian said.
The symptoms include prolonged fever, rash, red eyes, or abdominal pain. The hospital says they are confident they can treat these kids because of their experience with Kawaski disease, which is similar to this.
Elsewhere:
The tent hospital Harris County built and didn't use at at NRG arena is being replaced with another facility; a 150 bed facility to be used in case there's a surge. The cost to keep that ready is $200K a month.
CVS announced it is opening 15 new free testing sites around Houston. You can register by clocking HERE. The locations are below
- CVS Pharmacy, 3923 Garth Road, Baytown, TX 77521
- CVS Pharmacy, 5430 Bissonnet Street, Bellaire, TX 77081
- CVS Pharmacy, 2326 61st Street, Galveston, TX 77551
- CVS Pharmacy, 1000 Elgin Street, Houston, TX 77004
- CVS Pharmacy, 6079 State Highway 6 North, Houston, TX 77084
- CVS Pharmacy, 12601 Tomball Parkway, Houston, TX 77086
- CVS Pharmacy, 11600 FM 1960 West, Houston, TX 77065
- CVS Pharmacy, 5510 West Orem Drive, Houston, TX 77045
- CVS Pharmacy, 19715 Tomball Parkway, Houston, TX 77070
- CVS Pharmacy, 4150 North Shepherd Street, Houston, TX 77018
- CVS Pharmacy, 5725 N. Eldridge Parkway, Houston, TX 77041
- CVS Pharmacy, 2828 Spears Road, Houston, TX 77067
- CVS Pharmacy, 4451 West Fuqua Road, Houston, TX 77045
- CVS Pharmacy, 12502 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 7702
- CVS Pharmacy, 5610 Spencer Highway, Pasadena, TX 77505
Another 128,000 people in Texas filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. That's down from 134,000. 2.8 million Texans have filed for unemployment over the last two months.
Bernie's Burger Bus announced it will close its doors permanently after Sunday; another economic casualty of the virus.
And Governor Greg Abbott will allow Texas pro sports teams to play in front of fans - at 25% capacity.